Friday 13th May 2016 - Context Research for presentation

Introduction to the original era



Antigone was written by Sophocles, it focuses around the conflict of the power of the state and individual conscience. It is a tragedy that is thought to be written around 442BC, it was the first of the "three Theban plays" to be written, however chronologically it is the third. After it was written it was premiered at the festival of Dionysus.

• 441 BC - festival of Dionysus - One of performance as part of a competition, this took place in March each year and went on for four days, this was a public holiday so that everyone could go. The city gave money to the poor so they could also go, over the four days, seventeen plays were shown these were a mixture of tragedy, comedy and satyr.
• No women on stage on stage or in the audience - Only men could act in ancient Greece, they performed all of the parts which included men women and children. All actors had to be athenian citizens. 
• Chorus demonstrate the view of society - The purpose of this was that they were commentating on what was happening in the play, and was another point of view for the audience. - Unlike the main actors the chorus could be anyone, they often served as the communities opinion which was often contrasting to the opinion of main characters in the play. For example in Antigone there is a scene where the chorus act as a duty to what Creon is saying. 
• Interactive experience - It was a common thing for the audience to be involved in a performance. This was so they did not get bored and throw things at the performers or become a distraction, by interacting with the audience they feel more involved and therefore were less likely to cause a problem to disrupt the actors. 

Playwright



Antigone was originally written by Sophocles, he is often thought of as the best playwright out of the three at the time in ancient Greece - ( Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus). He is thought to have been born in 497BC in Attica(Greece) before the battle of Marathon. Sophocles came from a very wealthy family and wrote more tragedies than any other genre of theatre. His tragedies are often about the fate of human heroes, he focused on the human response to the gods as well as accepting the principles of the gods. The heroes of the play usually has an extraordinary career that pushes the boudoirs for what a human can do, these are strong characters such as the character if Antigone who pushes the boundaries of the law and accepts her fate of death.

Antigone by David Feldshuh

It was important for us to change the concept so that it is more relevant to a 21st century audience, this is because in the original performance there is a lot more reference to the gods. Today we do not have all of the gods that they had in ancient Greece and Greek mythology. It is important that the concept is relevant to todays audience.


David Feldshuh has a philosophy major from Dartmouth college and then completed his actor training at the London academy of music and dramatic art. His theatrical career included regional and off-Broadway director as well as film and opera. As well as this he was the author of three plays published plays including "Miss Evers Boys" which was nominated for Pulitzer prize and won five Emmy's.

What were the most popular styles of the original performance - acting and dancing?

Because the theatre was so large and even the audience sitting on the front row were at least 10 meters away from the stage the actors had to use large gestures that could be seen from the furthest seats. Although many theatres were constructed so that sound could easily be travelled to all of the seats the actors had to do this so that everyone could see and hear all of the characters. This is because many greek plays were complicated so it was important that the audience saw all parts of it to understand the themes and plot well. The actors had a non-naturaistic approach to acting, for example all of the gestures had to be over the top so because facial expressions would have been invisible to the majority of the audience. The actors were always accompanied by the chorus, they would often sing and dance giving the audience background information in-between the main scenes. The chorus was made up of between 15 and 18 men.

What was the style of your piece? How did this compare with the original?

• Costume - For plays that were performed in the ancient Greece, different colours represented different things, we were influenced by this. Therefore we chose to have the royal family in peacock colours which were very rich, this is similar to ancient Greece as characters who were royal often wore rich colours such as purples and blues. On the other hand the chorus who had a much lower status than the royal family wore a dull white and all wore the same clothing, to show the lack of individuality they had compared to the royal family. We were influenced by the ,asks that they used in this era, however we do not use them all the way through the performance, we only use them for a couple of scenes. Masks were originally used to show a change of character and were heavily featured in most Greek dramas, therefore we felt as though it was appropriate to use them. 

• Gender of the actors - In ancient Greece no women were allowed on the stage or in the audience, however to fit a modern audience we had female actors playing female characters and we had mixed genders in the audience. We did this to highlight one of the themes in the play, for example one of the themes in this play is strong willed women, therefore we felt as though it was important for a female actor to play the female roles. This also helps a modern day audience relate better to the piece.

• Backstage - In ancient Greek theatres there was a skene behind the stage, at the brighton open air theatre we didn't have this, we had three large pieces of stone which shielded the audience from seeing behind the stage.

• Venue - All ancient Greek theatres were outside and often built on the side of a hill, the audience would sit on benches that were tiered up the hill. We performed our version of Antigone at Brighton open air theatre where the audience it in very similar spaces to original Greek theatre. Because of this is felt as though I learnt more about greek theatre as I was faced with similar challenges to what the original actors would have had, for example having to project more so that audiences further away would be able to hear you over natural outdoor sounds.

• Role of the chorus - In ancient Greece the role of the chorus is to give the audience another view to the play from another perspective. I think we interpreted this well as the chorus gave a point of view from the less fortunate people compared to the main storyline of the royal family.

What was the best thing about working with our script?

I really enjoyed working on my main scene where I was Ismene as she was a different type of character compared to the other roles that I have played. This meant that it was a new challenge for me, which allowed me to develop my skills as an actor. On the other hand my favourite part of working with this script was the chorus sections, this was because it gave me an opportunity to pull together my other skills which I had learnt in dance and music. For example in chorus one we performed simple motifs of actions that were relevant to the text, as well as using body percussion to create a rhythm to accompany the text.

What were the themes in your script and how did you explore them?
Describe the importance of a few characters and how our production interpreted them for a contemporary audience?

• power and status - We worked a lot around the different in power and status between the royal family and the chorus, this is because we wanted the audience to be clear that Creon was driven mad by power and he couldn't cope. One way we interpreted this was in our staging, at the Brighton open air theatre there is large pieces of stone that serve as the backdrop, we built up stage blocks so that it looked as though the royal family were on top of these blocks. We were then able to show the royal family physically higher than the chorus, I think this worked because the audience were able to visually see this
• morality - Antigone has to accept the blame for the burial and not allow her sister to take the blame for something she had not done.
• balance of humanity and divinity - Each individual has a different level of power and determination, however the gods have the final say and can change the fate of all the characters. This is shown in the chorus Bacchus as we are performing movements that suggest we are calling for help from the gods as we are pleading up to the sky.
• determination - Antigone is a very strong willed person and knows that she will soon reach her death, on the other hand Ismene is also very determined to save her sister from a horrible fate.

What did I contribute to the process of Antigone?

I contributed to the process of Antigone by creating some of the choreography I the choruses, for example in chorus one, I helped create some of the movement material for me and Rosie to perform at the front of the stage to create different levels. I did this by referring back to the text to come up with appropriate movements that are appropriate to the script.

Wednesday 11th May 2016 - Antigone Research

Original Performance Of Antigone

Themes of the play

• Fate
• Free will
• Law/morality
• power and pride
• determination
• devastation
• consequence of choice
• death

Social Cultural Historical political content

• 441 BC - festival of Dionysus, one of performance as part of a competition - This took place in March each year and went on for four days, this was a public holiday so that everyone could go. The city gave money to the poor so they could also go, over the four days, seventeen plays were shown these were a mixture of tragedy, comedy and satyr.

• No women on stage on stage or in the audience - Only men could act in ancient Greece, they performed all of the parts which included men women and children. All actors had to be athenian citizens. 

• Chorus demonstrate the view of society - The purpose of this was that they were commentating on what was happening in the play, and was another point of view for the audience. - Unlike the main actors the chorus could be anyone, they often served as the communities opinion which was often contrasting to the opinion of main characters in the play. For example in Antigone there is a scene where the chorus act as a duty to what Creon is saying. 

• Interactive experience - It was a common thing for the audience to be involved in a performance. This was so they did not get bored and throw things at the performers or become a distraction, by interacting with the audience they feel more involved and therefore were less likely to cause a problem to disrupt the actors. 

Narrative and plot - Antigone and Ismene's father, Oedipus had two sons names Eteocles and Polynices, upon their fathers death it was decided that in turn both of them would take the throne for a year each . However Eteocles refused to stand down and Polynices marches through Thebes causing a battle between the two, where both of them died, making Creon king. Once king he ordered Eteocles to be buried in honour and Polynices to be left unburied. However Antigone burys the body that was ordered to be left, angering Creon, he imprisions her as well as her sister - Ismene. When Creon interrogates them both Antigone wishes to be punished by herself whereas Ismene wants to share the guilt and blame, and is desperate to save her sister. They both get taken away by the guards. Haemon confronts his father about the imprisonment of his betroved lover. Antigone kills herself to escape Creon, when Haemon finds her, he kills himself to be with her in death. When Creon finds them both he is driven mad with guilt and prays to the gods for help and forgivness.

Original staging conditions

• Acting style - Because the theatre was so large and even the audience sitting on the front row were at least 10 meters away from the stage the actors had to use large gestures that could be seen from the furthest seats. Although many theatres were constructed so that sound could easily be travelled to all of the seats the actors had to do this so that everyone could see and hear all of the characters. This is because many greek plays were complicated so it was important that the audience saw all parts of it to understand the themes and plot well. The actors had a non-naturaistic approach to acting, for example all of the gestures had to be over the top so because facial expressions would have been invisible to the majority of the audience. The actors were always accompanied by the chorus, they would often sing and dance giving the audience background information in-between the main scenes. The chorus was made up of between 15 and 18 men.

• Performance venue - Behind the orchestra there  a skene, this was used as a backstage where actors could change their costumes and masks, this also served a second purpose of showing the audience the location of the play which was usually a building like a house or a palace. There were typically two or three doors leading out to the orchestra where the actors could enter and exit. Sometimes these were painted to give a specific scenery to the play. There was a raised acting area that was called the proskene, this is the modern version of a proscenium arch stage. The audience were sat on benches that were built up on the side of a hill, because of this greek theatres were only ever built on a hill to achieve the right structure and shape. A typical theatre could fit up to 15,000 audience members, they were not enclosed so the audience could see each other and the surrounding location as well as the main actors and chorus. 

• Costumes and props - Masks were commonly used in Greek theatre, this was so the actors could play different characters including women as women were not allowed in the theatre. This was also so actors could multi role effectively without the audience getting the characters confused. Also from a religious perspective the mask was a form of protection form the gods, one example of this is if an actor was playing a character who had done something that had broken the law or had some evil traits, the mask would prevent the gods from punishing the actor for the characters mistake. However using a mask had some challenges, these were...

1. It is hard to project your voice when wearing a mask, this is because there were no mouth holes and therefore you have to speak a lot louder and clearer to make sure that the audience can hear you. Speaking with a mask on naturally sounds more muffled and the sound is not traveling out, it is being blocked. Although I tried to project my voice as much as possible I think I could improve this, when we use the masks in the final performance I would have had practice doing this and therefore my voice will sound clearer.
2. When performing with a mask on you have to rely on your body language more as your facial expressions are being hidden. This means that actions we do have to be more exaggerated to compensate, this helps the audience to keep engaged as we are fully projecting out.

The masks sometimes fall down your face and as the eye holes are small and therefore you cannot see. This means that when you rehearse you are aware of everyone and everything around you so that you can be spaticially aware when performing with the mask on.

Tragic actors wore garments that had elaborate pattens woven on them, these were similar to clothing worn by priests and musicians, these actors wore thick soled boots to give additional height to the perfumers, this was thought to help the actor project more. 

Characters

• Mythological figures (Dionysus) - These characters often wore saffron coloured clothing that were high quality and impressive, there were rich colours like purple and gold with jewels and heavy cloaks.
• Goddesses of women with a high rank - Often were robed in purple and gold as these colours shows the wealth of the character.
• Matrons - Monochrome colours like black white and grey to show the contrast in wealth and hierarchy, this cloth was finely embroidered and wore veil like material on the head. 
• Queens and Princesses - Long purple robes decorated with gold stars, to show the wealth. 
• Warriors - These character wore a variety of armour like helmets and scarlet tunics that were richly embroidered, to show their status.

Comic actors wore lose body stockings that were padded in particular areas to exaggerate their comedic element.

• Lighting and sound - Because there was no electricity available in this era, all of the plays were lit by natural light, because of this plays were usually shown in daylight. This means that they could not use special effects to enhance the performance, the actors had to be interesting enough by themselves to not bore the audience without any effects.

Background of the plays first performance - Antigone was written by Sophocles, it focuses around the conflict of the power of the state and individual conscience. It is a tragedy that is thought to be written around 442BC, it was the first of the "three Theban plays" to be written, however chronologically it is the third. After it was written it was premiered at the festival of Dionysus, that took place once a year and was the only time that theatre was shown.


The playwright - Antigone was originally written by Sophocles, he is often thought of as the best playwright out of the three at the time in ancient Greece - ( Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus). He is thought to have been born in 497BC in Attica(Greece) before the battle of Marathon. Sophocles came from a very wealthy family and wrote more tragedies than any other genre of theatre. His tragedies are often about the fate of human heroes, he focused on the human response to the gods as well as accepting the principles of the gods. The heroes of the play usually has an extraordinary career that pushes the boudoirs for what a human can do, these are strong characters such as the character if Antigone who pushes the boundaries of the law and accepts her fate of death.

Our Performance Of Antigone

Character 

• Gender changes - We changed the character of Tiresias from a man to a girl, this is because we are a mixed gender group and decided to keep Antigone and Ismene as female characters. This is different to the original performance as in ancint Greece no women were allowed in the theatre, either on the stage or in the audience. However in the 21st centry most shows are of mixed genders and we thought that this was better suited to our cast.
• modernising context (making it more relevant to a 21st century audience) - We decided to use the idea of the chorus being displaced people, we decided on this context because in todays world there are many people like this. We based this on refugees as it is very relevant to some of the media stories and problems that our society lives with. This worked well with the story line as the royal family rule over and therefore it made sense for the chorus to be very vunerable to this.
• Costume - We were influenced by steampunk costumes for the royal family, as this is more relevant to todays time period. However with this in mind we encorporated the original idea of colours from ancient greek drama, the royal family wore peacock colours that were very bright and bold, suggesting to the audience that they are more wealthy with both money and power. On the other hand the chours are wearing dull simple clothing that is very similar to each other, this suggests to the audience that thye all have a loss of idently as well as living with the very minimal amount of money etc compared to the royal family.
• Chorus movement - Some of the movement that we chose to choreograph for some of the chorus is very influenced by contemporary dance, this is because it relates more to the 21st century. Dance styles change over time and new things are introduces however the movement that we chose to incorporate is very modern compared to other styles we could have used. I think this worked as we used the pace, tone and rhythm to help us choroegraoh to the text.

Themes of the performance material

• power and status - We worked a lot around the different in power and status between the royal family and the chorus, this is because we wanted the audience to be clear that Creon was driven mad by power and he couldn't cope.
• morality - Antigone has to accept the blame for the burial and not allow her sister to take the blame for something she had not done.
• balance of humanity and divinity - Each individual has a different level of power and determination, however the gods have the final say and can change the fate of all the characters.
• determination - Antigone is a very strong willed person and knows tat she will soon reach her death, on the other hand Ismene is also very determined to save her sister from a horrible fate.

Original style of performance material

• Antigone was written by Sophocles, it focuses around the conflict of the power of the state and individual conscience. It is a tragedy that is thought to be written around 442BC, it was the first of the "three Theban plays" to be written, however chronologically it is the third. After it was written it was premiered at the festival of Dionysus, that took place once a year and was the only time that theatre was shown.

• It was important for us to change the concept so that it is more relevant to a 21st century audience, this is because in the original performance there is a lot more reference to the gods. Today we do not have all of the gods that they had in ancient Greece and Greek mythology. It is important that the concept is relevant to

Potential contemporary style of performance material

• Refugees and displaced people - Our concept for this show was to show the difference in power and wealth between the displaced people and the royal family. This fits into contemporary style as in the media there is lots of attention on how the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer, there are many countries where the majority of the population is living an under-privileged quality of life. Although topics like this are covered widely in the media, I believe that it is important to teach people about important subjects and topics through the arts. This is because it suggests how things are happening often from many different points of view, in the media often only one point of view is covered and therefore it is beneficial for an audience to watch a show like this. 
• Flags - We used flags that had peacock feathers on them to hang up on the set, this was partly linked to the ideo of having a monarchy, as the flag is representing the kingdom which Is ruled by Creon. Secondly the peacocks relate to the royal family, as they are wearing colours associated with this animal such as greens, blues and purples, this shows that the flags represent them. Peacocks are regal animals, this suggests how weathly and how much status the royal family have.

Tuesday 10th May 2016 - Performing To An Audience

Shoreham Shakespeare Festival - When performing at the Shakespeare festival it was an extremely different performing experience to any other performance I have been a part of. This is because there was no set audience, we were showcasing our monologes to a passing audience. I found this challenging as when we initially start we had to grab the audiences attention straight away, otherwise everyone would just walk past. The first time we performed these we had a podium that we had to stand on, this was easier because we were a little higher than everyone else we were more easily seen. However the second time we did this we had to do it in the middle of a crowd, this was harder because the audience didn't expect it and it was more of a challenge to get their attention. As well as this I needed to project my voice more, because we were outside as well as the audience being scattered around rather than in one set space. Due to the audience being scattered around I also had to make sure that I was directing my speech to different locations to make sure that everyone around me was engaged.

Brighton Open Air Theatre - Performing at Brighton open air theatre was a completely different experience to performing at the Shakespeare festival, this is mainly because at this venue we had a set audience that were prepared to watch a play, compared to a passing audience who were not expecting to witness any performances. However I still found this a different challenge as some of the audience was more higher up and therefore it was important to project our voices out to the sides and up ot the top, this was more of a challenge particulary in this theatre compared to an indoor theatre. This is because it is easiy for the sound of voice to get lost within the breeze and passing pedestrians, dogs etc. As well as this we had to change some of the blocking when we got to the venue as we overestimated the size of the trenches and other things that we hadn't thought of.

Wednesday 6th April 2016 - Ophelia (Hamlet) Research

http://worthingpateam.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/original-performance-circumstances-opc.html

William Shakespeare is thought to be the most influential writer of his time, he was born in 1564, he died at the age of 51 in 1616, he wrote Hamlet in 16-6.

In the 16th century actors travelled to different towns in a cart looking for audiences to perform to, this is because playhouses were not built until 1576. Audiences expected to see a new play every day, because of this actors and playwrights were employed to meet the demands of frequent audiences. Once theatres were built they were also used for bear batting, gambling and other purposes, not just for performances, these theatres could hold up to 3000 people and unlike in Greek theatres the plays were shown in close proximity to their audiences. These acting spaces needed to be quick to adapt as productions didn't stay at the same theatre fir usually more than one performance. Acting was no seen as a respected profession and actors were seen as trouble makers.


Audience members who were more wealthier would sit closer to the top of the theatre and further away from the stage, the purpose of this was that they could separate themselves from the more lively and less privileged audience members. However sometimes the richer audience members would chose to sit on the stage during the performance so that they could publicly make comments about the actors that were on the stage. On the other hand the poorer audiences known as the groundlings would stand in front of the stage, this was known as the open yard, entry to this cost someone one penny. The groundlings would act very lively during performances and would often throw things like mouldy fruit and nut shells at the actors if they didn't think they were good enough or disliked the actor or performance. Food and drink was sold and consumed during performances as well as prostitutes who were actively soliciting, also pick pockets who went round the audiences attempting to steal money and other valuables.

Sound effects were created by real cannons and pistols that were fired off when the scene is a battle. Thunder was sounded by rolling large metal cannon balls backstage, fireworks were used to sound and look like lightening. In Elizabethan theatre there was strict rules about what colours could be worn by which characters, different colours and costumes meant different things, for example the colour purple meant that the character is royal.

Friday 6th May 2016 - Antigone and Ophelia Evaluation

Did your performance communicate the intentions of your characters and styles with absolute confidence and flair?

On reflection I thought that as chorus member I performed well in relation to the concept we had decided on. Because we were very venerable people who had nothing, we all had to put our faith in Creon, at the same time as we fear him. I think I showed this well as in the first scene we are all bowing down to him, in this section I made sure that all of my movements and positions were very low to the ground. This is because I think that it was more beneficial for the audience to see us physically lower than the royal family to reflect our status. On the other hand during chorus one (war and victory) I changed my character as we are telling a story. In this scene there is no royal family and therefore we can be a bit more comfortable as we are just around each other, they are telling the story of the battle from their point of view and not just what Creon has said. However when he comes back we return to being in fear. In my opinion I successfully showed the audience the different between the two sides of my chorus character and how they change when the are in or out of Creon's presence. However on reflection I think that I could have added in more reactions to what the guards were saying, this is because the purpose of the chorus in Greek theatre is to help the audience understand what they should be feeling. The guards are bringing news that could have impacted "the displaced" chorus members and therefore I think I could have made it more obvious that I was worried and scared of Creon's reaction.

When watching back I thought that I played Ismene well, this is because in rehearsals me and Holly had been working on the relationship that there is between the two sisters, Ismene wants to save Antigone and share her guilt whereas Antigone wants to accept her fate by herself. I had been working on trying to plead with her more to let her help, and having more frantic movements around her, I also experimented with reaching out to her and holding her hand to show the support I am trying to give her. I think although I had worked on using different tones in my voice in this scene, especially when she stops being so panicky and starts to be more solemn and calm to try and get hers and Creon's attention in a different way, I could have projected out to the audience more. This was a struggle for me as we were outside and some of the audience were sitting quite far up, some of the sound of my voice was being taken away by the breeze and other natural sounds. I do think that this experience of performing In an open air theatre has allowed to think about the development of my projection in terms of voice and movement. This was similar in my performance of my monologue as I was only this character for one scene, and at the Shakespeare festival I was only playing Ophelia for a short time, this meant that I had to get in and out of character very quickly as there was not much change over time. Similarly to this when celebrating Shakespeare's 400th birthday I wish that I had projected out more, this is because we were in a fairly busy market place and the sound of my voice, like many others was just being carried away other background sounds, such as traders shouting, children running around and screaming etc. When performing outside it is important to project further as your voice has more spce to travel in compared to being a home where you know and love. When we perform in the theatre, we have the option of using a radio microphone, however sometimes they do not work and I am not dure I missed something.

I think that my performance could have been better in the chorus when Livvie is speaking the chorus leader line and we are performing contemporary movements around her, this is partly due to when I was backstage I couldn't hear my cue line and therefore walked on late. This could have been avoided if I had taken more note of the other lines in scene before so that i could have come on stage at the right time. Because i was in the first group i missed doing the majority of my groups choreography, however when I walked on stage i used the same pace and rhythm of the other movement, this is so it didn't stand out to much to audience members. In our next chorus we used masks, this is a challenge as they have such small eye holes that you are unable to see through them, this makes the proxemics with other actors and the stage and set hard to work out. We had to speak a chorus verse to the back of the stage which meant some of the sound just travelled to the stone instead of out to the audience. There were problems within this chorus as a few people were unsure on some of their chorus lines, and we had already decided that if you don't know it, it is better to not speak it as it interrupts the right lines. Because of this there was only a few people speaking this chorus, i tried to speak as loudly as i could but it was hard as we were facing the back wearing masks and only a few people were talking. In my monologue performance I was less restricted compared to chorus 4 in Antigone as I was not wearing a mask and had full vision. This allowed me to feel more confident within the space and allow me to move around more without fear of falling, slipping or bumping into a potential audience member.

In the final scene we stepped out to the audience to say our last few lines, this is " don't wait for pain to give you wisdom, don't wait for age to make you wise." We decided to step out because in this scene the choruses job is to tell the audience the problems and subject matter within the story. These words were supposed to be said more calmly and subtly, this is because it is the moral of the play and a kind warning to the audience members. In previous rehearsals we had tried to say this in a more powerful way however we thought that it made more if an effect the way we finally decided to perform it. When performing my monologue I had to make sure that I used different tones of voice, as it is a long speech and I didn't want the audience to get bored and walk away. For example when I said "he took me by the wrist..." I wanted this to come across a bit more calm, this is because she has just run into the room in a panic and once she has explained the first part of her story, I felt as thought it would be more natural to slow down a bit more and catch her breath. I thought I did this well, however I do think that If I had more time to prepare this monologue I would have been able to experiment further by using a variation of tone of voice. I think that I could have had more rapid moments, followed by a short pause and then remaining calm for a while before talking in a panicky manor once again.

Comparing the two performances I felt more confident with Antigone, this is because there was a set audience who come prepared to see a performance and although we were outside we were still in an appropriate performance environment. However before I did my monologue I felt extremely nervous about walking into the audience and performing, i was worried about audiences walking away, however once I had started I believe I performed with confidence as I found that audience members were interested. Because of this the next time I performed this monologue I felt more confident and went into it with more ease.

Overall i am happy with my performance in Antigone, as i was able to fulfil my role as a chorus member who tells the audience about the thoughts and feelings within the play, as well as being a "displaced person" who is living in fear of their king. As well as this i think that my scene where i played Antigone's sister - Ismene well as i suggested to the audience about our relationship as i do not want to live without her. Also there is a change in charcter between my chorus member and my Ismene characterisoins, howver in the wiz they canf rehearse in college. However overall, there were things that I wasn't happy with as it needed to have some dynamic variation, this helps me get more into and jus enjoy it and work hard, I am happy with my performance as I think that I have used an adequate about of movement /actions and the tone and projection out to the auncince.

Thursday 7th April 2016 - Ophelia (Hamlet)

I chose to use this monologue for the Shakespeare festival as there is opportunity for movement when performing this, my original idea was to perform it as if I was walking in to talk to her father at the same time as looking back to check if Hamlet has followed her. This is because she is trying to express her concern for Hamlet. She is telling a story of something that has just happened and therefore I wanted to use physical theatre to act some of the things she is explaining, such as "he took me by the wrist".

Because I was unsure of some of the language used in this monologue, I decided to find a modern day interprepation to make sure that I undertood exactly what was happening in this scene so that I could interpret it better. I found this translation that helped me block simple movement that could accompany it.

Father, I was up in my room sewing when Hamlet came in with no hat on his head, his shirt unbuttoned, and his stockings dirty, undone, and down around his ankles. He was pale as his undershirt, and his knees were knocking together. He looked so out of sorts, as if he’d just come back from hell. He came up to me. I’m not sure, but I’m afraid he might be. He grabbed me by the wrist and held me hard, then backed away an arm’s length and just looked at me, staring at me like an artist about to paint my picture. He stayed like that a long time.

Once I had learnt this monologue and was more confident with the ideas and characters behind the text I started to add more movement into the performance. Because my character is very paniced and is running in to tell her father about something, Rachel  suggested that I said the first part of this monologue whilst walking in as this describes the situation more and sets the scene. She also asked me to run round the room three times so that I was saying the text slightllyy out of breath which is what my character would be doing anyway. After listening to her comments and suggestions, I chose to use them to develop my performance in further rehearsals. However I needed to make sure that although I was talking fast I didn't lose any other the words that were written by losing my diction and articulation. To avoid this I went through it slowely to make sure that I was pronouncing every word correctly and taking pauses in places that made sense.

Monday 9th May 2016 - Antigone (Criteria 2 - Unit 4)

Our Performance Of Antigone

Character 

• Gender changes - We changed the character of Tiresias from a man to a girl, this is because we are a mixed gender group and decided to keep Antigone and Ismene as female characters. This is different to the original performance as in ancint Greece no women were allowed in the theatre, either on the stage or in the audience. However in the 21st centry most shows are of mixed genders and we thought that this was better suited to our cast.
• modernising context (making it more relevant to a 21st century audience) - We decided to use the idea of the chorus being displaced people, we decided on this context because in todays world there are many people like this. We based this on refugees as it is very relevant to some of the media stories and problems that our society lives with. This worked well with the story line as the royal family rule over and therefore it made sense for the chorus to be very vunerable to this.
• Costume - We were influenced by steampunk costumes for the royal family, as this is more relevant to todays time period. However with this in mind we encorporated the original idea of colours from ancient greek drama, the royal family wore peacock colours that were very bright and bold, suggesting to the audience that they are more wealthy with both money and power. On the other hand the chours are wearing dull simple clothing that is very similar to each other, this suggests to the audience that thye all have a loss of idently as well as living with the very minimal amount of money etc compared to the royal family.
• Chorus movement - Some of the movement that we chose to choreograph for some of the chorus is very influenced by contemporary dance, this is because it relates more to the 21st century. Dance styles change over time and new things are introduces however the movement that we chose to incorporate is very modern compared to other styles we could have used. I think this worked as we used the pace, tone and rhythm to help us choroegraoh to the text.

Themes of the performance material

• power and status - We worked a lot around the different in power and status between the royal family and the chorus, this is because we wanted the audience to be clear that Creon was driven mad by power and he couldn't cope.
• morality - Antigone has to accept the blame for the burial and not allow her sister to take the blame for something she had not done.
• balance of humanity and divinity - Each individual has a different level of power and determination, however the gods have the final say and can change the fate of all the characters.
• determination - Antigone is a very strong willed person and knows tat she will soon reach her seath, on the other hand Ismene is also very detwerind to save her sister fom a horrible fate.

Original style of performance material

• It was important for us to change the concept so that it is more relevant to a 21st century audience, this is because in the original performance there is a lot more reference to the gods. Today we do not have all of the gods that they had in ancient Greece and Greek mythology. It is important that the concept is relevant to

Potential contemporary style of performance material

• Refugees and displaced people - Our concept for this show was to show the difference in power and wealth between the displaced people and the royal family. This fits into contemporary style as in the media there is lots of attention on how the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer, there are many countries where the majority of the population is living an under-privileged quality of life. Although topics like this are covered widely in the media, I believe that it is important to teach people about important subjects and topics through the arts. This is because it suggests how things are happening often from many different points of view, in the media often only one point of view is covered and therefore it is beneficial for an audience to watch a show like this. 
• Flags - We used flags that had peacock feathers on them to hang up on the set, this was partly linked to the ideo of having a monarchy, as the flag is representing the kingdom which Is ruled by Creon. Secondly the peacocks relate to the royal family, as they are wearing colours associated with this animal such as greens, blues and purples, this shows that the flags represent them. Peacocks are regal animals, this suggests how weathly and how much status the royal family have.

Tuesday 3rd May 2016 - Working on Specifc Scenes

Chorus 1 (War and Victory) - In this lesson we decided to change the blocking and choreography for this section, this is because what we thought that there was a lack of energy and we needed to improve this. We started by creating a formation, we experimented with different levels to make the aesthetics different to the other choruses, because of this me and Rosie are standing at the front while Emily is being lifted and carried forward, As well as this Livvie and Jess are rolling on the floor. This makes it look like there is more happening, this is because it is the first chorus in the play and we wanted to do something different to capture the audiences attention as to what the choruses purpose is in this context. During the chorus leaders lines, we slowly transition into our next positions. For the last verse the chorus who are not speaking, mime what they are saying, we did this to physically show the audience some of the context behind the play that has influenced some of the characters. For example this verse is about the battle between Eteocles and Ploynices for the crown of Thebes, so we formed two groups and when we go towards each other one group fall. We decided to keep the body percussion verse as it shows a big contrast to the rest of the chorus and therefore keeps the audience engaged.  

Chorus 6 (Bacchus) - This was another verse that needed changing, the original blocking did not allow us to portray the panic and distress of the text. Due to this we decided to start facing in, in a circle, this is because the chours are supposed to represent a community and therefore we thought that we could visually show this by the formation. As we say our lines we walk out of the circle, when we walk back in we form two circles instead of one. One circle is travelling in one direction and the other is traveling in the other, we chose to do this as the movement directly correlates with the text, they are both getting gradually more and more hysterical. We reach up towards the sky to show that we are very respectful of the gods and rely on them for help and guidance. We have also decided to reach out to the audience in the last verse as this is the climax of the chorus and therefore needs to show how desperate we really are.